Roasted Pink Lady® apples recipe with butterscotch sauce

Pink Lady® apples are my favourite apples for eating and for making desserts. They strike the perfect balance between tart and sweet and have a lovely crunchy texture. Their season has just started in South Africa, which signals the beginning of winter and some delicious comfort eating ahead. With this recipe they are simply roasted in butter and sugar and served with a decadent but oh-so-delicious butterscotch sauce. It could not be easier nor does it need to be. Toasted hazelnuts add another textural element but you could use any toasted nut of your choice. I love this dessert served with vanilla ice cream too.

Baked apple desserts are right up there amongst my favourite and my apple & strawberry crumble is normally my go to. I would never say no to apple pie or a good tartin either, so when Pink Lady® asked me to do a recipe for them I knew I wanted to make an easy baked apple dessert.

This recipe is slightly adapted from Mary Berry’s recipe in the cookbook ‘ The Great British Bake Off Everyday’.

*Cooks notes – I found the sugar slipped off the apples while they were baking so about half way through I re-coated them with the buttery sauce and sprinkled a little more sugar. This doesn’t really matter because at the end you are going to drown these delicious baked apples in butterscotch sauce and devour them with gusto.

Recipe – Serves 4

4 Pink Lady® Apple, peeled and core removed

40gms butter

4 – 6 Tbs caster sugar or golden caster sugar

Butterscotch sauce

150gm Muscovado sugar

76gms butter

100ml full fat cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 – 3 Tbsp of chopped roasted hazelnuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 200c / 400F

Melt the butter in a small pot or the microwave and lightly roll each apple in the butter. Place the caster sugar on a small plate and roll the apples in that ensuring they are well coated. Position the apples upright on a small oven proof-roasting dish allowing space in between each apple. Bake the apples for 25 – 30 minutes until the fruit starts going light brown and is tender.

While the apples are roasting, make your sauce. In a small pot add your butter, sugar, cream and vanilla extract. Heat this until it is bubbling and simmer over low heat for about 4 – 5 minutes until the sauce starts to thicken. It will thicken further when it cools. Stir the nuts in the sauce or scatter these over separately at the end.

Serve the apples with the hot butterscotch sauce poured over and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.